Giving Compass' Take:

• Alex Zimmerman reports that nearly 40,000 special education students received fewer services that they were entitled to - or none at all. 

• How can funders help to ensure that all students that get appropriate special education interventions? 

• Learn about the role of principals in special education success.

A growing share of city students with disabilities received the services they were entitled to last year, according to new data released Friday by the education department — though almost a quarter of special education students only received a fraction of the help they were owed.

Last school year, just over 78 percent of students received all of the supports required by their individual learning plans, which can include services such as counseling or physical or behavioral therapy. That represents an increase from the 2016-17 school year, when 73 percent of students received all mandated services.

But nearly 40,000 special education students — or 22 percent of all students classified as having disabilities — received only part of the interventions they were entitled to or did not receive any extra support whatsoever.

Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children, a non-profit that works on behalf of students with disabilities, wrote that “while the data show incremental improvements” — the fact that many students are left without services is alarming.

Read the full article about special education services by Alex Zimmerman at Chalkbeat.